As I read the 1892 diary, I began to learn about this ancestor who Ipreviously knew absolutely nothing about. I discovered that, withinthe constraints of only a few words each day, Josephine could notelaborate. Nevertheless, as the chronicle of days and months andyears pass, a life story develops. Because of the lack of details,the story is something of a puzzle. It can only be assembled byunderstanding the historical setting (more about this later), thecultural context, picking up little clues in the entries, reading"between the lines," and employing some imagination.

Years ago, I lived in Aroostook County, in Presque Isle and then in Bridgewater, so I am quite familiar with the towns mentioned in these diaries. In many ways, Aroostook County has hardly changed from those times.